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DECEMBER 4,
1920
CLAUDIA MUZIOJTOJJSE THE KNABE
Prima Donna of Metropolitan Opera Co. Selects
That Instrument for Her Personal Use Both
in Her Home and in Concert Work
THE MUSIC TRADE
11
REVIEW
WHY PIANO PRICES CANNOT fc COME DOWN
Article No. 4—By O. C. STONE—Authorized by the N. P. M. A.
The writer was in the office of the president the lines. Every manufacturer is trying his
of a large piano manufacturing concern one day utmost to secure lower quotations on supplies
last week when the conversation turned to the for the coming year, but up to this writing there
present cost of manufacturing pianos and the is nothing to indicate a price reduction during
inability of piano manufacturers to reduce their the first half of 1921 that would be worth men-
tioning or considering in the question that is
prices at this time.
This man enjoys the reputation of being a now before us.
In considering this question in all its pha ;cs
skilled manufacturer, a shrewd buyer and a far-
sighted business man and is certainly at the it should be borne in mind that a piano ,s a
head of one of the largest and most substantial product of slow growth. Pianos are not like
candy, for instance, where you can buy the sugar
houses in the piano industry.
This man made this graphic statement: "You one day and have the candy on the counter
can take all of the component parts of a piano the next, but piano parts and materials entering
and pile them up right here on this carpet: Take into them are in many instances contracted for
the case, the back, the plate, the sounding board, or purchased months in advance. After reach-
the action, the keys, the strings, the tuning pins, ing the factory it takes months to work them
the hardware, the varnish, etc., etc., pile them up np. It will be thus seen that the supplies and
on the floor of this office, untouched by labor materials that are now in the factories, all of
and these various parts represent a total net which have been bought at the prevailing high
cost to us within $70 of what we get for the prices, and the materials that are being pur-
piano after it is manufactured. That $70 must chased with which to "fill in" will not be en-
cover the entire manufacturing costs, all the tirely disposed of in the shape of finished in-
overhead administrative and selling expenses struments for many months to come. It is thus
and pay us a profit. And," said he, "I would like very clear that prices will be very little affected
to have someone show me where I could cut a c'uring the next six months.
Claudia Muzio
her home and for her concert work. In making hare $10 out of the price and leave anything
Manufacturers now see this very clearly and
this selection she has joined the extensive circle for me."
already several large houses have sent notices
of noted artists who have found in the Knabe
And this is not an exceptional case, but one to their dealers that present prices will be guar-
an instrument especially suited to their artistic which represents the general condition of the anteed to April 1 and one large manufacturing
requirements.
manufacturing end of the piano trade to-day. concern which also conducts a chain of retail
The writer has had the opportunity of seeing stores is guaranteeing its retail price on certain
the invoices of a dozen or more manufacturers. styles of high-priced instruments until June 1 of
CALLS BANK CREDITS SOUND
He has gone over cost sheets, item by item, the coming .year.
it will be seen from an analysis of this end
National Bank of Commerce Sees No Cause for through a perfect maze of figures and statistics,
and he is convinced that there cannot possibly of the manufacturers' problems that prices when
Immediate Alarm
be any present reduction in wholesale prices they do start downwards will be slow in com-
"The credit position is essentially sound and unless the manufacturer wishes to dispose of ing down and then only in small amounts, very
the future is to be regarded with confidence," his produce for less than it cost to produce, or much in the manner in which they were forced
says the National Bank of Commerce, in advices for less than it will cost him to replace to-day. t;j be raised.
Every manufacturer with whom the writer has
Xor is there any immediate relief in sight.
sent out this week. The country's credit re-
quirements are now at maximum, fhe statement Not a single piano manufacturer has reported a talked has stated that when the break comes,
says, and while pressure may for a time continue break in prices of materials and supplies, as yet, perhaps some time after the first of the year,
il will then be a slow process, a process involv-
at this current high level, no substantial in- to the writer.
Every manufacturer is watching, waiting and ing a slow and very gradual decline to lower
crease is anticipated in the demand for banking
accommodations, either for crop financing or to expecting to see some breaks somewhere along prices.
meet commercial and industrial requirements.
strength, the bank believes, and adds that the
SPECIAL CHRISTMAS LETTERHEAD
The banks and reserve institutions have beginning of a reduction in the aggregate of
financed the enormous volume of current re- these requirements now is evident. After the Brambach Piano Co. Spreads Spirit of Holidays
quirements with no weakening of their reserve expansion of October a moderate contraction
by Its Correspondence
is shown. This, while relatively small, is re-
Every year about this time the spirit of
garded as extremely important and significant,
because, "in the present difficult situation it in- Christmas becomes dominant. The thought of
the coming holidays and their activities is con-
dicates an ability greater than might have been stantly in everyone's mind, and without a doubt
anticipated on the part of both the interior the season is looked forward to with eagerness.
banks and their customers to liquidate out- The Brambach Piano Co. has in the past years
With 3 sounding boards
standing
obligations. It indicates also that the written all its correspondence on a specially
in each (Patented) nave the
future
trend
will be toward the contraction, printed letterhead which suggests the spirit of
greatest talking points in
rather than expansion, of such obligations."
the coming festivities. This special letterhead
the trade.
Speaking of the general situation, the bank is printed in Christmas colors from an especially
says that the adjustment to new conditions of drawn design,, and is a pleasing constant re-
supply and demand has proved difficult. Two minder that the holiday season is drawing near.
factors on the buying side of the equation offer This idea, instituted by the Brambach Piano Co.
much encouragement, however. In comparison several years ago, has won several converts dur-
with those classes whose income increased ing the past year and bids fair to become a sort
rapidly during the period of rising prices, the of custom in business.
decline in prices which has already taken place
has increased the purchasing power of salaried
employes and persons in receipt pi fixed in-
k m bacon* Baxaa
comes from investments.
Claudia Muzio, the distinguished prima donna
of the Metropolitan Opera Co., has just selected
the Knahe piano for her exclusive use both in
3 Great Pianos
FRIENDS HONOR MAYNARD ALLEN
We fix " o n e p r i c e " —
wholesale and retail.
The Heppe Piano Co.
PHILADELPBIA, PA.
A Masonic ring and a pair of cuff links showed
Maynard Allen, now sales manager of the Balti-
more store of the Knabe Warerooms, Inc., that
his friends in the Washington store, from where
he was transferred, had not forgotten him.
Wallace Brown, manager of the wholesale
Vocalion department of the Aeolian Co., spent
most of last week in Chicago in connection with
the development of the Vocalion business in
that section.
Awarded first prize in many world compe-
titions during the past sixty years, the
Schomacker Piano is now daily receiving
first prizes of preference won by its superb
tone, wonderful breadth of expression and
structural beauty.
SCHOMACKER PIANO CO.
23d and Chestnut Sts.
Philadelphia, Pa.